Screen Rant spoke with Kurt Russell recently about his involvement in the Fast And The Furious franchise. Starting with the franchise in the seventh movie as the character Mr. Nobody, he’s been a part of the financial zenith of that film series. He commented about his previous reluctance to work on sequels.

“Well, all my life Iâ€™ve never been one for sequels and stuff. Iâ€™ve done it one time with Escape From LA, which was from Escape From New York, which was 17 years earlier. But we live in a different time now. We live in a time where thatâ€™s the norm. Iâ€™ve never had anything against it, I just think that each time what I think theyâ€™ve learned now, is that you canâ€™t just throw a sequel out there because you did good business. You have to go after it to make it even better. It puts more pressure on you. That, I like! That, I think, is a challenge, and every time you look at what it is, and if you like it and you think youâ€™ve got a reason to do it, you do it. If thereâ€™s not you donâ€™t.”

There was a time where a good sequel was the exception to the rule. Most franchises would suffer the fate of diminishing returns, Take the original Superman series with Christopher Reeve. The first movie was a classic. The second movie had its good points but had some elements that were hokey. The third film would have made a good TV movie. The last movie should never have been made. Movie studios knew the franchise would attract people to theaters on name value alone but didn’t see the point in investing in elements that make films good and last the test of time.

Films that were the exception to the rule were movies like The Godfather 2 and The Empire Strikes Back. The big difference with those films is that the creators of those series were hands on involved. That mindset took years to sink into Hollywood. While saving money is not a bad thing, the old adage that “You have to spend money to make money” rings true with artistic properties. The moment you start cutting back on resources, you prevent filmmakers from making a film that meets the quality of the original.

So what do you think? Are sequels better today than they were in the past? Does the reliance upon sequels prevent original content from seeing the light of day? Should studios give sequels some breathing time before they see the light of day? Soundoff in the comments section below.

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Joseph Jammer Medina is an author, podcaster, and editor-in-chief of LRM. A graduate of Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Television, Jammer's always had a craving for stories. From movies, television, and web content to books, anime, and manga, he's always been something of a story junkie.

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